譯/陳韋廷
The history of drinking in America goes straight through the heart of New York. As with so many aspects of the city, that history has run from gritty to stylish and back again.
美國的飲酒歷史直接穿越紐約的心臟，就像這座城市的許多方面一樣，這段歷史經歷了從粗獷到風雅，再回到當初的過程。
For generations, taverns and saloons were largely places for men to gather, drink, gamble and chew tobacco. Those places could be discerning, as with Fraunces Tavern, a still-existent bar patronized in the 18th century by the likes of George Washington and his soldiers, or more suited to the average Joe, like McSorley's Old Ale House, which opened in the mid-19th century and, until 1970, admitted only men.
數世代以來，酒館和酒吧大多是男人聚集、喝酒、賭博與嚼菸草的地方。這些地方可能是比較有品味的，像是18世紀喬治華盛頓和他旗下軍人經常光顧、至今依然存在的弗朗西斯酒館，也可能是更適合一般人的，像是19世紀中葉開業，且在1970年前只接待男性的麥克索利酒吧。
By the time McSorley's had opened, many American bartenders had made a a of inventing what we now think of as craft cocktails. The atmosphere at these locales was often hostile and crude.
Prohibition changed all that. The idea of bars as hospitable, welcoming spaces gained traction when liquor sales became illegal.
當麥克索利開業時，許多美國酒保已具備發明現今所謂精調雞尾酒的專長。這些地方的氣氛常常是不友善而且粗魯的。
With the advent of speak-easies, owners and bartenders suddenly had a new clientele: women. The social appeal of speak-easies pulled them into new and vibrant communal spaces. Alongside the new customers came bar stools, live jazz and a new breed of cocktails.
禁酒令改變了這一切。當賣酒變成非法時，酒吧是個好客、歡迎人的場所的想法才流行起來。隨著地下酒吧的出現，業主和酒保突然有了一個新的客群：婦女。地下酒吧的社會吸引力將她們拉進新的、充滿活力的公共空間。除了新客群，還出現了酒吧高腳凳、現場爵士樂與新一代雞尾酒。
Despite the end of Prohibition in 1933, these changes to New York's drinking culture endured, opening up the cocktail scene to a broader audience.
禁酒令雖於1933年廢止，紐約飲酒文化的這些變化卻持續了下來，將雞尾酒的舞台向更廣泛的觀眾開放。
By the 1960s and into the '80s and '90s, bar culture in New York had become as varied and textured as the city itself. Cocktail bars got yet another revival at the Rainbow Room, where Dale DeGroff took over the drinks program. In the Village, the Stonewall Inn and others became centers for gay culture, while uptown venues like the Shark Bar attracted a mostly African-American clientele.
到了1960年代並進入1980和1990年代，紐約的酒吧文化已變得跟城市本身一樣多采多姿。 雞尾酒酒吧在戴爾．第格洛夫接管酒單的彩虹廳又迎來一次流行。在紐約格林威治村，石牆酒吧等處所成了同性戀文化的中心，而鯊魚酒吧等曼哈頓上城場所則吸引了以非洲裔美國人為主的客群。
Today, despite an unfortunate turnover rate, modern New York cocktail bars are doing their best to foster a sense of community and hospitality.
現今，儘管翻桌率很低，但現代的紐約雞尾酒酒吧正盡最大努力營造一種社群意識和好客氣氛。
It's this spirit that an editorial writer for The Brooklyn Eagle captured in an 1885 column (quoted by David Wondrich in his book "Imbibe"). "The modern American," the paper observed, "looks for civility and he declines to go where rowdy instincts are rampant."
這正是《布魯克林鷹報》一位主筆1885年在專欄中提到的精神（大衛·旺德里奇在所著《飲酒》一書中引用了這段文字）。該報評論道：「現代美國人追求文明有禮，他拒絕去那些粗暴本能猖獗的地方。」
But American bars are not by definition civil. Luckily, it's as easy to find your watering hole fit today as it was a century ago.
但從定義上說，美國酒吧並非文明的。幸運的是，今天很容易找到適合你的酒吧，跟一個世紀前一樣。
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